Monday, January 23, 2012

Golden Globes Review and 5 Shows You Should Be Watching

So as it turns out, my super power is not predicting award show winners. ;) I called 9 out of 25 of them, but I had great company who were just as entertaining as the show, so who cares. My highlights...

Ricky introducing the "filthy Helen Mirren"

Octavia Spencer's win and the awesome Martin Luther King quote

the fact that so many women were wearing gorgeous hues of green (my favourite colour)

the elegant Christopher Plummer winning for Beginners

when Kelsey Grammer surprised us with his win for Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series and my friend exclaimed, "Oh, Kramer."

how we couldn't stop giggling when Seth Rogen acknowledged just how excited he was to be presenting with the lovely Kate Beckinsale (I love that she couldn't stop giggling, either). Low-brow and hilarious.

George Clooney stealing Brad Pitt's cane to give his well-spoken acceptance speech for Best Actor in The Descendants, and joking with Michael Fassbender about his full-frontal moments in Shame

The Descendants winning Best Picture (Drama)

Now, for the first entry in my 5 Shows You Should Be Watching series (in random order), I give you...

Justified (FX) - just starting its third season, this is one of the coolest shows on television, and it just keeps getting better. Lead by the perfectly-postured Timothy Olyphant as a federal marshal reassigned to the eastern Kentucky county where he grew up, is part Hillbilly Whisperer and bad-ass old-school gunslinger. Unlike his character in Deadwood, Marshall Raylan Givens is laid-back, droll, and has a devil-may-care attitude that somehow blends perfectly with his classic cowboy bearing. Plus, that hat is almost another character by itself.

The other reason I watch is Boyd Crowder. Played effortlessly by Walton Goggins, he has evolved from hillbilly racist to a seemingly repentant man who found God behind bars, into a charismatic criminal force to be reckoned with. His scenes with Raylan are a delight because in spite of being on opposing sides, they seem to share some strange bond and have saved each other's lives on more than one occasion. There is a mutual, if begrudging, tolerance (respect, even?) between them that makes all of their exchanges quite riveting.

With a strong supporting cast, tons of action, humour, and villains as colourful as hats at The Derby, what are you waiting for? Giddyup!